SOURCE: Long Beach Press-Telegram http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2202792,00.html L.B. Airport finds a security snafu Screening machine unplugged, flights delayed as riders rechecked. By Felix Sanchez Staff writer LONG BEACH ? More than 500 passengers had to repeat security checks and four JetBlue Airways departing flights were delayed one until after an 11 p.m. curfew when it was discovered Tuesday that a federal security screening machine at Long Beach Airport was apparently unplugged. The Transportation Security Administration, which operates passenger and baggage screening at the nation's airports, would say only that an unknown machine "malfunction' was being investigated as the culprit. But at least two airport and law enforcement sources said a magnetometer, used to screen passengers at the airport's south passenger boarding lounge, was found about 8:30 p.m. to have been unplugged, likely for at least 15 minutes. As a precaution, the TSA required passengers already on board one JetBlue flight, and those waiting for three other JetBlue departures, to go through another round of security checks, said Alex Wilcox, JetBlue's Long Beach-based director of West Coast operations. Before rescreening, the boarding lounge had to be evacuated of all passengers. Departing flights to Boston; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Washington, D.C.; and New York City were affected, Wilcox said. In addition, two incoming JetBlue flights had to wait on taxiways, with passengers on board, because they could not approach the terminal while the affected outgoing planes waited to be boarded, Wilcox said. Niko Melendez, a TSA spokesman, said the rescreening took 42 minutes. But the delays were enough to cause JetBlue Flight 216 to New York to violate a strict city noise ordinance that automatically punishes commercial airlines that fly after 11 p.m. Two other JetBlue flights departed after 10 p.m., which also carries a fine but allows airlines to appeal depending on the circumstances of the flights. The last JetBlue flight left the boarding gate at 10:56 p.m. and took off after 11 p.m., Wilcox said. Wilcox said the airline will appeal to the city to withhold fines. "We don't know what went wrong,' Melendez said. The TSA will be examining the magnetometer machines and procedures to determine what happened, he said. Sharon Diggs-Jackson, an airport spokeswoman, said additional staff members were used to help JetBlue passengers get safely off at least one plane so they could be rescreened, and to help clear and then reopen the boarding lounge. "Some of our customers who had landed had to wait on the plane for an hour before they could get off,' Wilcox said.